A MASSIVE clean-up operation got underway in south Liverpool yesterday after a night of violence shocked the city.

Residents assembled at Asda in Smithdown Road at 9am armed with brushes and binbags to help tidy up after answering a call made on social networking site Facebook.

Further gatherings took place at Myrtle Parade and by the bombed-out church in the city centre at 11am as ordinary people took the streets to show they still take a pride in their city and will not allow a mindless minority to hold sway.

Council neighbourhood manager Billy Maxwell, who lives in the Smithdown Road area, was encouraged by the response to the appeal for help. He said: “The operation went brilliantly – I am involved with similar schemes periodically to clean up the area and it can often take weeks to organise.

“To see so many people turning out at such short notice and with their own equipment was really heart-warming.

“As soon as I found out something like this was going on, I knew it was something I had to support.

“We covered a lot of ground throughout the morning and were helped by one man in the Lawrence Road area who followed the rioters last night, so that helped us retrace the route they took and clean up as best we could.

“All along the way though people have been coming out of their houses with offers of support and wanting to help themselves.”

Businessman Frank Hare was left counting the cost after his glass and joinery shop in Smithdown Road was damaged by vandals.

He said: “They smashed the door off its hinges, broke the windows, emptied the till and took my laptop out of the office.

“The shop alarm went off, which alerted my mobile phone at about midnight. I made my way straight down here and had to go around the back streets because there was a police cordon.

“There were fires in the road and young scallies running all around – the damage will probably cost me around £4,000.”

Residents Laura Johnson and Ben Wykes joined the clean-up with their baby after hearing that there was going to be a response to the carnage of Monday night.

Mr Wykes said: “We felt quite helpless, hearing the reports of what was going on here and around the country and felt we had to help demonstrate that what went on is not a true reflection of where we live.

“There are a lot of legitimate reasons for people to complain about this country at the moment but if this is any kind of political protest, the only people they are hurting is themselves and their own communities.

“There does not seem to be any underlying purpose of reason to what people have done. It just seems to be an excuse for some opportunistic violence and aggression.”